Customer Reviews

A Flask of Fields: Verbal and Visual Gems from the Films of W.C. Fields

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W. C. Fields was one of the few actors able to transition from the silent film era to the "talkies." A great deal of that was his distinctive voice, physical mannerisms that were almost a continuous sight gag and his visibly irascible personality. He made no effort to portray himself as a good or even likable man on the screen, yet his level of practicing evil was at a likable low level.

This book is a collection of images from his movies with a line of the most relevant dialog included. Most of the sentences are short; the emphasis is on the sight gag that was Fields. The only thing missing to complete the scene is that unforgettable voice he had.

Anobile points out in the introduction that Fields died before the advent of television but that he is convinced that Fields would have also been able to make the transition to the small screen. I have to agree with that, looking at these images they could have been pulled from a television screen. His mannerisms and his voice would have made him a popular man in the early days of television when a great deal of the action was an ad-lib.